BERKELEY, Maurice (?1645-1717), of Pylle, nr. Wells, Som.

The Berkeleys of Pylle, a branch of the family of the Earls of Berkeley, had been settled in Somerset since the fourteenth century. They had an interest in the neighbouring town of Wells, for which Edward Berkeley, Maurice Berkeley’s father, sat 1679-80 and 1685-1700. A Tory, and a member of the October Club, Maurice Berkeley was returned again for Wells in 1715, retaining his seat long enough to vote against the septennial bill before he was unseated on petition. He died the same year, 1717 (will proved May).1PCC 91 Whitfield; Collinson, Som. iii. 275-82.